Fire Pits On the Agenda of OB Planning Board – Jan 6th

The issue of the City’s plans to remove fire pits from San Diego’s beaches will be on the agenda of the next OB Planning Board meeting, scheduled for Wednesday January 6th. The planning board meeting begins at 6 pm and is held at the OB Rec Center located at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. The issue is listed as Item #2 on the Board’s agenda, which can be viewed at their website.

Recent media attention and local support for saving OB’s fire pits have prompted the Board to raise the City’s plans for their removal as an issue to be discussed. Part of the purview of the Board is OB’s public recreational facilities – and the fire pits certainly would fall under that aspect of their jurisdiction.

The OB Rag has ascertained that our beach currently has eight fire pits, moved behind the large berm to protect them from the high winter tides. We have also initiated an adopt-a-fire-pit program and numerous groups and friends have stepped forward to adopt them. The City has another 178 fire pits, primarily in Mission Beach, Mission Bay, Pacific Beach and La Jolla.

We encourage any fire pit supporters to attend this meeting and express to the members of the Planning Board their opinion of the idea of the removal of the fire pits.

New Church: “T’was the night before Christmas … and you’re fired!”

How does the fabled Christmas poem go? “T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” Well, here in OB, it was the day before Christmas – and ‘you’re fired!’

The new church that has taken over the former ELIM Church and the Oasis Early Learning Center, a Christian school attached to it, closed the school doors and laid off five teachers, effective Christmas Eve day. Merry Christmas, ol’ my flock.

Oasis, located next to the church at the corner of Ebers Cape May, ran a before and after school care and a pre-school.

Twenty-seven families – involving 30 kids – were affected. Some of the parents are steamed. They were notified back around Thanksgiving that the school was going to close, but they still feel there wasn’t much consideration given them or their children.

As far as the teachers – some of them had been there 15, even 17 years. Much of the equipment used by the school for the students was brought in by the teachers themselves. The teachers were given a 30 day notice, but there were no severance pay or pensions, and no promises of future work.

Oasis closed because the facilities and buildings were taken over by a grouping of churches who want to form a “mega-church” like Rock Church. Five different Assembly of God parishes have come together and formed “New Break” and bought the buildings. New Break has reportedly gutted the old ELIM church and will be opening sometime later this Winter. They also will be re-opening the school but with their own staff and equipment.

To many Christians, the Christmas holidays are the most sacred. For a Christian church, then, to lay off its Christian staff on that holiday seems very un-Christian-like. What would Jesus have done?

Stabbing Death of OB Homeless Man One of City’s Unsolved Murders of 2009

The killing of Richard Swink, an OB homeless guy, back on April 30th of 2009, remains one of San Diego’s 13 unsolved murders of the year. His stabbed body was found near the OB Library. On January 2nd, the Union-Tribune ran a piece about these unsolved killings and included this:

Richard Howard Iiams Swink, 56, a transient, was found dead with stab wounds April 30 on the sidewalk in front of the Ocean Beach Library. A witness reported seeing a man standing near Swink’s body.

On Thursday, Jan 21st, at 7 p.m. at PL United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., the OB Historical Society will host local OB photographer Steve Rowell who will discuss our local wildlife… the animals in the area (not our local bar scene). Steve will show his extraordinary bird photos that he has taken over many years.

Rowell’s presentation includes his favorite birds, the OB Ospreys, who have set-up permanent residence at Robb Field. These Opreys have become Steve’s extended family. He’s tracked their history and photographed them for years. Come hear Steve’s interesting stories about the birds and wildlife in our area. For info. about Steve Rowell: www.oceanbeachphotos.com

hey everyone! it’s important to keep this fire pit removal issue goin’. if you care about our beach icons and traditions, or if you care about having a marshmallow roast once a year, or if you care about the traditional july 4th marshmallow fight (how can you have a marshmallow fight without firepits?), or if you just think the city’s plan is stupid, please attend this planning committee meeting wednesday night. it’s just for an hour. send a message to the city. i think the planning committee is with us.

It’s been two years since Doug Manchester, owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, contributed $125,000 to anti-LGBT rights campaigners— an early infusion of cash that paid for the signature-gathering drive that put Proposition 8 on the ballot. Members and supporters of San Diego’s large LGBT community immediately called for a boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel and, on July 10 of 2008, a coalition led by the San Diego LGBT community and the labor movement announced a formal boycott of the property.

Despite repeated requests to change locations, this weekend the American Historical Association will hold the first LGBT event at the Manchester Hyatt— a forum on marriage.

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